8.10.2004

No Problema

Iz's first day was fine. She got to sit next to Blue, who then introduced her to other friends. Since she's a volatile girl, her reports on the silly new chants she learned at recess and learning los dias de la semana were punctuated with passionate recriminations about not allowing her to start in kindergarten. She is pissed off at not being able to understand what people are saying to her.

I explained to her that she would have the same experience in kindergarten, as it also is complete immersion. I then reminded her about her grandfather's experience being dropped in the middle of English-only 6th grade with no assistance whatsoever, and his quickly learning everything so well he became a doctor. Even he said the first weeks of immersion sucked.

She seemed comforted. But she still got ice cream, many reassurances about her resilience and bravery, and one of the pink hydrangea plants she's been coveting ever since she discovered that her traitorous mother chose to make our hydrangeas blue instead of pink.

And that Spanish video we got at the library, the one she watched only under protest until yesterday? She has sweetly requested that I go renew it right away.